White Wind Anemones
by Aremitia
Summary: Filled with regret over his actions, Hikaru wishes for and gets a second chance... starting differently from how he expected. No matter. It won't stop him from doing things right.. this time around. Timetravel!Hikaru fic.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** As said on my other fic, **Midnight Memories**, this will be the first (and last) A/N posted in front of chapters, future chapters will have their A/Ns posted on my profile instead if they are unimportant, in order not to clutter things up :)

Warnings: Similar to my other fic. In summation: I don't play Go, dubious Hikago knowledge, unplanned fic, sporadic updates, too friendly, I plead for HnG authors to please update faster, I live for this fandom, and I give cookies to every author who updates an English Hikago fic as of the publication of this fic.

Here's the prologue of one of my first fics, which was written around the same time as Midnight Memories- just that I thought of an acceptable name for MM before this fic's.**White Wind Anemones** is inspired by **esama**'s **Catalyst**, and other pieces of timetravel!Hikaru fanfiction.

* * *

**White Wind Anemones**

**Prologue**

The days after Sai's unexplained disappearance was devastating to Hikaru to say the least.

Hikaru actually started _missing_ the childish ghost's chatter. It was strange that he had not noticed until now that in the days up to Sai's disappearance, the ghost had talked less and less. Upon waking and finding no sign of Sai, Hikaru had been wracked with panic. He thought that perhaps Sai was just on a little holiday, and he would return tomorrow. Just in case, he didn't go out that day and waited in front of the Go board.

The guilt started to set in heavily as tomorrows slid past with no sign of the ghost returning. Hikaru started thinking and reflecting about all the things he did to, or did not do for Sai that he regretted very much. Ever since the first day, Hikaru had become a shut in, only leaving his room for meals. He had called the Go Association that first morning, asking for leave on personal reasons, disregarding all the tournaments and matches he had lined up.

Hikaru had only just realized how important Sai was in his life. Much more important than everyone and everything else. He had been taking advantage of the ghost, using him then discarding him whenever he felt like it, and with that revelation everything came crashing down upon Hikaru. Why had he been so selfish? So immature? And who had paid for his immaturity, his selfishness? Sai.

Sai, who would no longer be able to reach his dream of attaining the Kami no Ittai_ (Hand of God)_. The Divine move that Sai had gone through so much for, begged for a second life, a second chance for, and given his all for.

And it all failed thanks to the selfish little boy named Shindo Hikaru.

That 11 year old boy gave Sai false hope, a tiny little white lily, light after a long moment of darkness, before crushing it mercilessly when he grew to love Go himself, denying the man who gave up everything for Go and the man who had tutored, had nurtured him, the one thing he just wanted.

A month passed with Hikaru wallowing in self pity and guilt and all sorts of other horrible feelings. He couldn't live with it- with the knowledge that he _caused_ Sai's death. That he was _responsible_ for Sai's disappearance, and he had _cursed_ Sai to _never_ reach his goal.

That month had been filled with Hikaru watching replays after replays after replays of Sai's NetGo games, and _regretting_ that he did not record kifu of Sai's real life games. Some of the games Sai played with amateurs were just blurry pictures in his mind- and Hikaru almost never forgets things. And in that month, Hikaru realised how _good_ Sai was at Go.

No. Not _good_. Sai was _brilliant_. Hikaru thought that Sai could have been the God of Go in this life and no one, even Touya Meijin, could have beaten him, unfair handicapped game or not, if Hikaru had just _listened_ and _let Sai play_.

Angry at himself for crying over spilt milk and being unable to do anything, Hikaru wiped away the tears on his furiously. "Why was I such an idiot?" Hikaru growled at himself.

During that month, Hikaru had ignored messages, phone calls, even house visits from his Go friends-

No, not friends, they were the one who stole his time away from Sai, he should have never made friends. Sai should have been his first and only priority.

Hikaru's parents had been worried about his behavior lately-

Shows how much they care. They took care of him, sure, but they were never there for him, never like Sai was always there for him in these two and a half father was almost always at work, or out. He never came for parent-teacher meetings nor did he ever participate in "bring your child to school" day or "bring your child to work" day. His mother did all her motherly duties, but she wasn't _there_ for Hikaru either, but was always _there_ for her friends when _they_ needed help. Never Hikaru, because what problems could an 11 year old have?

Hikaru hadn't touched a Goban or Go stone for a month-

Because what's the _point_ if _Sai wasn't there_?

"Kami-sama (_God)_," Hikaru started, staring into the moonlight out of the open window, just as Sai used to do at nights when Hikaru was sleeping, "I know you granted Sai's wish to be able to play more Go. For some reason, you sent him to me. I was an idiot then, and Sai didn't deserve what I did to him. Sai had a second chance. Can I have one too?"

When nothing happened, Hikaru felt himself flushing in embarrassment for talking to the air and a little bit of anger when air didn't respond. "I don't care how you do it. Send me back in time so that I can FIX THINGS." He ended in a yell.

Other than a cricket chirping outside Hikaru's bedroom window, there was silence.

"Please!" Hikaru cried again as tears begun falling unbidden from his eyes. "I can't live without Sai. He was the only one who gave me attention, I was so foolish, so so foolish to have squandered it away, ignored it and taken it for granted, thinking that there will always be a tomorrow.. I know now. I need a chance to fix things, Kami-sama. I won't be able to live with myself if I can't make it up to Sai, can't help him achieve his goal.."

Heavy, fat tears were dripping down his face now, and he was sniffling and trying to make sure that the snot in his nose was not coming out of it to make an even greater mess of his face. Stumbling away from the window, he shuffled unsteadily up to the Goban- Sai's and Shuusaku's Goban, and now his- grabbed it and buried his face into the wood, exactly where the bloodstain used to be, before it faded.

Hikaru remembered Sai's face, his hands, his hair, his fan, his clothes, and the attention and awe Sai bestowed upon him when he explained some modern contraption or another to the ghost. Hikaru reminisced about the times Sai's eyes had lit up and his mental age sort of regressed to that of a child's when he was allowed to play Go.. And most of all, Hikaru recalled how Sai had been dejected and upset the month before he disappeared. How Sai had tried to hide it, but sometimes, when Hikaru woke in the middle of the night, he would see Sai staring at the moon with faint tears in his eyes.

Hikaru back then had given no thought whatsoever to it. Maybe he did, but those thoughts were about how much of a crybaby Sai was, and how Sai should grow up. But now, he thought he understood how Sai felt, and might know the reason as to why Sai disappeared.

Because Sai lost hope in ever achieving his goal of reaching the Hand of God, the sole reason of his second existence, just because of Hikaru.

And with that revelation, Hikaru fell into the inky darkness that the surface of the Goban suddenly was, and everything turned into black.


	2. Chapter I

Dedicated to the memory of Singapore's first PM, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

* * *

**White Wind Anemones**

**Chapter I**

* * *

_You can see the stains?_

_Can you hear my voice?_

_You can! You can! Oh thank you, Kami-sama!_

_I can finally return to the world of the living!_

Hikaru heard the voice, Sai's voice, and inside, his heart was fluttering and thumping loudly. He could hardly breathe with the anticipation that his wish was granted and he could almost see Sai again. Now, if only his eyes could open, Hikaru knew he would see that he was in his grandpa's shed, back where his eleven year old self discovered Sai's Goban..

Hikaru's eyes snapped open and he found himself looking outward from.. Somewhere. That wasn't the real problem though.

Reality stopped making sense once Hikaru saw.. Himself staring at a ghostly Sai floating above Hikaru.

For a moment Hikaru's brain stopped as he saw his younger self, in front of him, paralyzed. Abruptly, he stood up-

And screamed as he went careening into the wall of his grandpa's shed.

"What the hell?" Hikaru cursed as he extracted himself from the wall. "That hurt so much." Only to realise that it _didn't._

In that moment, Hikaru realised two somethings.

One, he was _floating_. Hikaru couldn't feel the floor beneath his feet, and as if subconciously affirming that he _was floating_, the fourteen year old boy drifted higher a few inches. A strangled sound escaped him but

Two, he had better things to worry about, as both Sai and his younger self was staring at him like they had seen a ghost.

Hikaru would have laughed at his joke had he not been so sure that him laughing would have sent either Sai or his younger self into hysterics. Panic-attacks, not giggles.

"Hi," Hikaru started, peering down at his younger self curiously (has he always been that short?), and avoiding eye contact with the other ghost (as he was pretty sure he'd break down crying after awhile), "I can explain-"

Apparently, Hikaru _could _explain, but younger Hikaru didn't _want_ to listen as he fell into a dead faint.

"Oh. Oh dear," Sai commented, an expression of pure confusion on his face, his chin resting on the tip of his folded fan. "What's happening?"

"This is really not what I asked for," muttered Hikaru to himself, but loud enough for the other ghost to hear, "but I thank you for the effort all the same, Kami-sama."

"…" Silence came from both ghosts as Hikaru kept his eyes firmly on his fainted younger self, refusing to make eye contact with Sai, while Sai just stared speechlessly at the older, ghostly version of the little human child who could see him.

"Fine!" Hikaru finally erupted, unable to bottle up his feelings any longer. "I'll explain it to you, Sai, I'll explain everything to you!"

Sai looked on in bewilderment as the other ghost _finally_ _looked _at him, and actually started tearing up. "I don't understand, who _are _you?"

"I'm him," Hikaru said, pointing his fallen younger self on the floor, "From the future. I've come back to make everything right, Sai. Though I hadn't expected Kami-sama to grant my wish like _this_. I thought I'd be sent back to my old body in this time." '_Though now that I think of it, I would have snuffed out the soul of my younger self had that happened, and that would create a paradox because I wouldn't have existed past my eleventh birthday in a sense,'_ Hikaru mused to himself. Perhaps it was better this way, thought it did put a snag in his plans. He'd have to do things a little differently-

"Why have you come back?" The cute look of confusion on Sai's face resulted in a bubble of laughter rising from Hikaru's throat.

-one of those would be that he'd actually have to tell Sai the truth. "I've missed you," Hikaru said quietly, "I've missed you so much I just had to."

Hikaru had actually planned to pretend that he didn't have any knowledge of the future when he was sent back to his eleven year old body, and dedicate the rest of his life helping Sai achieve his goal by letting him play every single game from the start.

However, that was evidently not possible anymore, so Hikaru just had to steel himself to explain to this version of Sai what exactly happened to make him say what he did, when he was interrupted by the calls of young Akari from the outside of the shed.

"Hikaru! Are you _done_? I'm getting tired just standing around and waiting!"

Hikaru smiled at the voice of the only friend whom he still appreciated. The rest- Waya and the inseis, Akira and his soccer buddies- they all made him enjoy time away from Sai too much, such that he had _forgotten_ the ghost. Hikaru had told himself that he would manage his interactions with his past-friends better this time around, but he didn't really know how his plans would go now with this unexpected occurance of also being a ghost factoring into the equation.

Akari had gotten enough of waiting it seems, as she got over her fear of being caught stealing something and entered the shed, only to let out a squeak as she saw younger Hikaru's fallen body on the floor.

"Helppp!" Akari screamed as she rushed into Hikaru's grandpa's house. "Ojii-san! Hikaru fainted-"

Hikaru couldn't hear her anymore as she got too far away. It seemed that he was like Sai, unable to move further than a room's length away from the younger Hikaru. There was something weird going on though, as he felt a connection calling him from somewhere other than the usual boundary around younger Hikaru. Hikaru feared that if he followed that connection, he would end up back in the future. Therefore, he ignored it with single-minded determination.

Turning back to Sai, Hikaru begun telling his story to the ghost, about how it went the first time around. The two ghosts followed young Hikaru as he was carted off to the hospital in an ambulance, with Sai listening attentively to Hikaru's story.

Hikaru told Sai everything, from being a soccer fanatic eventually giving into Sai's pleads to let him play Go, to when Hikaru finally became a pro, enjoying Go so much that he let Sai play less and less. Hikaru told Sai how he made the ghost sadder and sadder before he disappeared one fine day in May, with Hikaru ignoring the premonitions of the disappearance like the fading bloodstain on Torajirou's Goban and the lacklustre ghost who was usually so energetic in pleading for a game of Go. These premonitions had surfaced as early as the month before, and Hikaru thought that had he noticed them earlier and took measures to make Sai happy again, Sai wouldn't have disappeared.

That was the basis of his wish, that Hikaru wanted another chance to take back his mistakes of the future ("Wow, that sounded like an unplanned pregnancy or something," Hikaru commented and laughed at Sai's spluttering. ) which denied not only Sai of a chance to reach the Hand of God, but also the world of a Go genius brilliant beyond measures. Hikaru neglected to mention his selfish reasons of feeling lonely and needing a companion, of course.

It was a lot to take in, so as Hikaru completed his story, he fell silent and watched Sai contemplate out of the corner of his eyes, head bowed while waiting for the Go ghost's reaction. They were seated, well, floating in a seating position, next to the still unconscious younger Hikaru's bed in the hospital, with Akari and Hikaru's grandpa in the corridor outside talking to the doctor. The only sound heard in the room were the soft breaths taken by younger Hikaru.

"I'm so sorry," Hikaru added once he felt that the silence was getting suffocating, "I know I was an idiot and an asshole, but I'll make it up to you now."

"..who was an asshole?"

Before Sai had the chance to reply, Hikaru turned to younger Hikaru, who had mumbled the question as he blearily opened his eyes. Apparently younger Hikaru wasn't seeing very well as he continued, "dad, I just had the strangest dream. I met me from the future..."

Younger Hikaru's speech tapered off when he caught sight of both Hikaru and Sai staring at him. "Well. Seems like it wasn't a dream."

"Nope, sorry to burst your bubble, you're not dreaming. Congratulations, you're haunted by two ghosts!" Hikaru chirped, and upon seeing his younger self's face which was morphing into panic, quickly added, "Don't worry we're harmless and _for God's sake don't faint again!"_

Younger Hikaru nodded mutely, staring at his future self with trepidation.

"I think you should explain to the young one, Shindo-san," Sai finally spoke, addressing the elder Hikaru.

"Hikaru," corrected future Hikaru, "you always called me Hikaru.. though it might be a problem now, seeing that we're both Hikarus."

"Don't steal my name," hissed younger Hikaru, but he was cut off from saying anything more when the door to the room opened to admit his grandpa and Akari.

"Hikaru! You're up!" Akari gushed as she rushed to Hikaru's side. "I thought you _died_ or something. Who were you talking to?"

Younger Hikaru's eyes flicked to the right, where Sai and older Hikaru was floating. "Uh.."

"They can't see us," offered older Hikaru helpfully.

"Nobody," younger Hikaru said quickly.

"Explanations will have to come later then, when you're back home," older Hikaru said as he floated to stand beside Akari. "Huh, I've forgotten how _tiny_ Akari was. I should have known from seeing _me_ so short – Hey, you do know they'll think you're crazy if you say anything out loud, right?" Hikaru reminded younger Hikaru when his mouth had opened to say something in retort to the 'short' statement.

Younger Hikaru's mouth closed back with a 'click'.

"Hikaru, are you feeling better?" Hikaru's grandpa asked. "What happened?"

"Say it was an allergic reaction to dust or something," older Hikaru ordered.

"I think it was an allergic reaction to dust, maybe.." younger Hikaru parroted obligingly. "I'm fine now though, can I go home?" He added imploringly.

Heihachi glanced backwards, where the doctor stood, checking the clipboard at the foot of the bed. "From what I observe and the details of his vitals, Shindo-kun is fit enough to be discharged. I don't think the fainting was caused by an allergy, nor can I pin-point the exact cause, but since it is not a recurring event, if you feel well enough to be discharged I don't see a reason to keep you here." Turning to Heihachi, the doctor had speared the elderly man with a strict look. "Keep an eye out for your grandson. If he faints again or even feels a little light headed, bring him back for a check up alright?"

Heihachi had nodded his understanding, and that was enough confirmation for younger Hikaru as he leapt up from the bed like he hadn't been unconscious for a few hours ten minutes ago. The doctor reached out a hand to steady younger Hikaru had he wobbled, but younger Hikaru made it with no problems, so he let it drop back to his side and placed the clipboard back at the foot of the bed.

"Any dizziness?" The doctor asked as younger Hikaru walked out the hospital door briskly. At younger Hikaru's shake of his head, the doctor nodded to the patient and his family, bade them farewell and hurried away with a reminder to Heihachi to check out at the front desk.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Akari asked as Hikaru's grandpa looked on worriedly.

"Yeah I'm fine, sheesh, I told you I just had an allergic reaction!" younger Hikaru scowled at Akari's mother hen-like behavior, before turning to the side to glare at Sai who had made a small sound of amusement, and elder Hikaru who had a wide grin on his face. 'We'll settle this at home,' younger Hikaru mouthed forcefully, and pretended he had been yawning when Akari caught him and gave him a strange look.

"Ah, young love," sighed older Hikaru, "so cute. You have good taste though, Akari grows up to be very pretty."

Younger Hikaru's neck snapped to look at him so fast, everyone around him heard the wind make a 'whoosh' sound. "We ended up together?" Younger Hikaru asked his older self incredulously.

"What?" Akari and his grandpa turned toward younger Hikaru asking.

"Nothing," younger Hikaru muttered, giving the evil eye to the cackling ghost from the future. The other ghost, the one from the past, was just staring silently bewildered at the scene.

'_Geez he's such an asshole_,' younger Hikaru thought to himself, hoping very hard that he still could change how he'd turn out in the future.

"Believe me kid, you can. I actually came back hoping to change you to be a better person compared to me," older Hikaru told his younger self, "because I hurt a lot of people who mattered to me with my attitude, one of them most of all. He left, so I came back to change that, and to teach you to appreciate what you have."

Younger Hikaru would have been affected by such powerful words had he not realised that his older self could actually _read his mind_. Horrified, he gave a strangled moan as he took a seat next to Akari on his grandpa's car, oblivious to the girl's questioning gaze.

"Not really, but you can communicate with us in your mind, if you think aloud like you did just now," ghostly Hikaru said, pushing Sai, who had been staring in wonderment at the contraption into the front seat next to Heihachi before squeezing himself between his younger self and Akari in the back seat.

"What's this?" Sai asked, eyes alight as he inspected every inch of the car's dashboard.

At the same time, younger Hikaru scrunched up his face disgruntledly. '_And you didn't tell me I could before I made a fool out of myself because?'_

_"_Fun," older Hikaru replied, before sticking his upper body through the space between the front seats in order to explain to Sai what a car was and what the various knobs and buttons on the dashboard did. Sai ooh-ed and ahh-ed at everything, while younger Hikaru sulked in the corner.

* * *

"Wait, so you mean to tell me that the future me plays Go?" Younger Hikaru could barely believe the nonsense coming out from his older self's mouth. "Why would I ever play that old man's game?"

The trio were currently back in Hikaru's room. Elder Hikaru noticed that his parents were still not home, even though it was already 7 pm in the evening, as usual. It was fortunate his grandpa had fed his younger self and Akari dinner before sending him back home, else younger Hikaru would have to make some instant noodles or something to eat. After bidding Akari goodbye, younger Hikaru was ushered back to his room by his elder self, who told younger Hikaru (a slightly edited version of) his story, making sure to highlight how much of an _asshole_ Hikaru had been in the alternate future, and dropped the metaphorical bombshell on younger Hikaru- His elder self played Go and wanted _him_ to learn the game as well.

"Because if you become a professional, did you know you can earn money?" Hikaru asked slyly in return. As predicted, his younger self's eyes lit at the prospect of money. "But no, I didn't play Go just because I needed money. I really started to enjoy the game.. Too much to the point of neglecting the one person who really mattered."

"Him?" Younger Hikaru pointed at the floating Go ghost. "Who is he anyway?"

When elder Hikaru made no move to answer, the ghost from the Heian era did. "I am Fujiwara-no-Sai, Go tutor to the Emperor before I died."

Intrigued, younger Hikaru sat up straighter from where he was slouched on his bed. "Woah. I already know my future self's story, what's yours?" He asked, pretty rudely in elder Hikaru's opinion, and was smacked upside the head for it.

Younger Hikaru immediately regretted asking as the regal man-ghost-whatever he was launched into his tale, which included a lot of dramatics that he wasn't sure a grown man like Sai should be having. The ghost even had _tears in his eyes_ when he told of the part where the other Go tutor to the Emperor cheated like he couldn't believe anyone could do something so _sacrilegious._ In the end, younger Hikaru didn't know whether to be incredulous or horrified that there was such a man so devoted to an _old man's game_ that he would be willing to _die_ for it. And that he'd trade time in heaven, if it existed, for time as a ghost just to _play more Go._

And then he had waited a thousand years to be able to play Go for what, an extra ten years with the guy named Torajirou whose Goban Hikaru found in his grandpa's attic?

"That's crazy," younger Hikaru commented, eyes wide, "and yet so cool."

"Uh huh," added elder Hikaru, "that's why _you'll_ be letting Sai play Go through you."

"_What? No!_" Younger Hikaru immediately protested. "I don't want to play that old man's game! Or even be seen playing it, even if it's not me playing it."

"Shut it pipsqueak," elder Hikaru commanded. "Sai, you do want to play Go don't you?"

"Please, may I, Hikaruuuu-kun?" Sai took the cue to immediately started whining, adding that little drawn out note in Hikaru's name that elder Hikaru missed very much.

"No!"

Then, to younger Hikaru's horror, the grown man-ghost started crying. "Hikaruuuuuuu-kun!"

Younger Hikaru withstood the crying for a grand total of five seconds before couldn't take it anymore, so he hastily said, "okay, okay! I'll help you play Go tomorrow.. How?"

"Thank you Hikaru-kun!" The Go obsessed ghost cried, before doing a twirl around Hikaru's room.

Elder Hikaru, who had been smiling that wide grin of his that had since this afternoon not bode well for younger Hikaru, waved a hand. "Don't worry about that, I'll direct you to a Go salon after school. Just worry about that History test you have tomorrow."

"I have a _History test tomorrow?_"

Younger Hikaru's dismayed cry was drowned out by Sai's jubilant celebration, who was chanting "Go! Go! Go!" to himself while elder Hikaru watched amusedly on.

"I need to study for the test," younger Hikaru snarled, effectively shutting Sai up, "so can I have peace and quiet at least until bedtime?" He was whacked on the head by elder Hikaru again.

"Be more polite, but we get it. Sai, would you like to play a game of blind Go with me?" Elder Hikaru asked as he settled down in a corner of the room, furthest away from younger Hikaru who was sitting at his study desk and rummaging frantically through the pile of notes in his bag looking for the History ones.

Faint whispers could be heard from that corner for the next hour or so, with younger Hikaru sneaking peeks at the duo of ghosts ever so often, while doing his best to read his notes. 'I don't get it,' younger Hikaru thought to himself, 'what's in Go that makes them love it so much?' Even he himself had become a Go maniac- maniac enough to ask to travel _back in time_ to ensure that his Go mentor doesn't disappear.

Younger Hikaru couldn't deny that both ghosts enjoy the game very much though. Elder Hikaru looked very serious, nose scrunched up as he thought, while Sai- was that man_ still _crying?_\- _had his facial expression hidden behind that fan he was carrying, but younger Hikaru could see his eyes and cheeks were moist with tears.

When younger Hikaru was in the midst of memorizing the names of some of the more important officials given in his history textbook, he heard elder Hikaru sigh loudly and say, "I resign. Thank you for the game." in an out-of-character formal and polite tone.

"Thank you for the game," Sai had replied equally formal and polite.

Then they started _discussing the game_, to younger Hikaru's disbelief. Apparently playing the game wasn't enough for Go fanatics, they had to discuss the game with terms which made sense only to them, like "clusters" and "hands" and "connecting" and "dying", that reminded him of that Star Wars video game that he used to play.

"Modern Go has changed a few things," elder Hikaru had started after a discussion on the score- which younger Hikaru couldn't see because the game of Go took place in _their heads_, "for one, there is now _komi, _a compensation of 5.5 points is given to black, which is the handicap given to white for its advantage of starting first.."

Younger Hikaru's head fell forward onto the desk with a 'thunk' as he realized that he'd rather listen to the Go discussion than study History. In doing so, younger Hikaru missed the wide grin that spread on elder Hikaru's face as he witnessed his younger self struggle in mental anguish.

Sai missed it all, too happy in his want to learn all the _wonderful_ new rules about Go that he missed out since his time with Torajirou.

* * *

That night, when younger Hikaru was asleep, elder Hikaru spent his time chatting with Sai about anything and everything. Sai had been especially interested when hearing about his other self teaching Hikaru.

"Other me must have had a lot of fun teaching you Go. You are quite a good player," Sai had complimented Hikaru on his gameplay, and Hikaru's heart ached in happiness.

"It was fun, I guess, but I was really mean to the other you, which got worse toward the end. I took you for granted and thought you'd be here for me till the end, like you were for Torajirou, so once I started enjoying Go I only let you play on NetGo once in awhile as you playing through me would seem so weird to everyone who knew my playing style.." Hikaru said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think about you back then, and I didn't mean to make you unhappy. I swear I'll make it up to you this time. I'll make sure my younger self will let you play Go as much as you want."

All the while, since that afternoon, that strange feeling in Hikaru's gut that was calling him somewhere was getting stronger and stronger.

Sai shook his head, his hair rustling with the movement. "I don't want to take over Hikaru-kun's life.. I just want to play Go.."

Hikaru opened his mouth to say something, like assure Sai on the behalf of his younger self that it wouldn't be a problem, because he would do anything, like denying his younger self of his happiness just to make Sai happy (because if younger Hikaru had gone through what he did, younger Hikaru would see where he was coming from, Hikaru rationalized). He was interrupted by his stomach rolling uncomfortably.

Hikaru told Sai about it, who had furrowed his brows thoughtfully. "Is the feeling like the urge you have when you leave the vicinity of your younger self?"

"I don't know," Hikaru replied, and got to his feet to try it out. He walked out of the door to his room, down the stairs and out to the front porch. The feeling in his gut intensified, and when he stepped into the middle of the lawn, he blinked and found himself standing back in his room.

"Yeah, it is somewhat like it," Hikaru replied after his experiment. The feeling was a little like when you open your eyes without blinking for too long. Eventually your eyes would water and you would have to blink.

"I think you should go check out the source of where the pull is coming from," Sai suggested.

Hikaru told Sai of his concerns about ending back up in the future, but he was cut off when Sai hugged him. Hikaru's eyes started feeling hot- then they started watering and before long he was bawling his eyes out in Sai's embrace.

"It will be fine," Sai had whispered to him reassuringly, "and I forgive you."

That had made Hikaru's eyes water even more, but eventually, he had agreed to go check out the origin of the pull.

Hikaru left Sai's embrace very reluctantly, trembling and afraid that if he let go, Sai would disappear, or he himself would. When nothing happened, his trembling eventually stopped but he still felt fearful of ending back up in the future. Alone. Without Sai.

But Sai gave him a reassuring look, so Hikaru took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing his eyes and focusing on the origin of the pull. He felt something, something that made him open his eyes- and he saw that he was fading. Hikaru started panicking then, but it was too late as the world faded around him, and he faded from the world.


	3. Chapter II

Tell me if you spot any mistakes. :)

* * *

**White Wind Anemones**

**Chapter 2: Awakening**

* * *

"Hey, Yuui!" An old grandpa greeted cheerfully from his bed as she walked into the ward, clipboard in hand and smile on her face.

"Good evening, Eito," Yuui greeted back, bending to check the grandpa's clipboard at the foot of his bed. "I heard you're ready to be discharged in two days, how are you feeling?" Yep, the grandpa's clipboard had said he had shown full recovery from his lung surgery, and after three weeks of recovering in a private ward paid by his children, he was finally able to be discharged.

"Great," Eito the grandpa replied, "my youngest kid, you know Eiko right? The girl with the short hair, not the one with the wavey hair, that's my eldest. She's coming to pick me up on Monday, and she told me that once I get better the kids will bring the grandkids over."

Yuui listened politely and gave indications that she was listening as Eito the grandpa blabbered on about his family. She didn't particularly enjoy long stories as she tended to drift off in the middle, but she found that it made people happy if she was willing to listen, and making people happy was part of her job and she took her job very seriously. After a year or so, Yuui got the hang of socializing with the patients, and they liked her as much as she liked her job- a lot.

Aoikiwa Yuui was a nurse at Tokyo Central Hospital. She had been a nurse there for five years, and in that five years, she had seen many patients come and go. She was an extremely friendly person, and made it her goal to befriend each and every patient that crosses her path. Therefore she was quite well known among the patients as the 'Very Friendly Nurse'.

In that five years, Yuui had been assigned to many departments as her degree in Nursing made her well suited for any role the head nurses assigned her. She had been to the ICU, to the operating theatres, and both the private and public wards to care for patients. One stood out the most as she had been assigned to the case, meeting the child in the ICU, then the operating theatres, and finally the child's paid-for bed in the private wards. The child had been in the hospital since May of last year, and every time Yuui did her rounds, passing by the child's bed, she would feel a pang in her heart for the child who barely survived and slipped into a coma after the car crash that took the parents' lives. Yuui remembered that the parents had succumbed to death before they reached the ICU, and their child had been in critical condition, but stabilized after emergency surgery. Everything was paid for post-mortem by the parents, who were apparently quite rich business people, leaving their only child their fortune.

Yuui was jolted out of her thoughts as Eito the grandpa stopped talking. She bade Eito goodbye and checked her clipboard as she walked out of his ward, realizing she had to visit the child next, the last before she was dismissed for the day. The night nurses would take over, and she wasn't assigned night duty this month.

She slipped into the orphan's room, feeling the sadness wash over her as she took in the fourteen year old's frail form. The orphan was really an orphan now, the parents had been the only child of their respective families, therefore no uncle or aunt to take the child in, and the grandparents were dead. They had been the only child of their families too, so there weren't even great aunts or uncles. As usual, the child lay among the sheets, breathing slowly, hooked up to a life support machine.

Yuui checked the child's vitals. It was the same as every other day, there was no difference or sign that the child was waking up.

But it was a miracle, that as Yuui stood there, watching the kid for a minute or two in silence. She'd have missed it otherwise. The child's finger had twitched, she was sure of it.

Then the child's heart rate started speeding up, eyelids twitching.

Yuui started. She rushed to the side of the room, where the button for infocomm was at, pressed it and called for the doctor.

"What's happening?" The doctor, a handsome man just a little older than Yuui flanked by a pair of nurses, asked immediately after closing the door behind him.

"The child is waking up," Yuui replied tersely, turning back to the monitor, where the readings were fluctuating in an increasing manner.

"What?" The doctor asked, surprised. "All of a sudden?"

Yuui nodded. "I was just about to leave and spotted the child's finger twitching." She then pointed out the increasing heartbeat trend on the monitor.

"It seems like we have to get ourselves ready for our young friend here to awaken then," the doctor said, confirming Yuui's observations. "Go contact the psychologist."

Yuui could just hope the child would react favourably to the sudden change in her situation.

* * *

"Ahhh what a nice day, why must I wake up?" Hikaru moaned as his alarm clock rang incessantly. He was about to drift off to sleep again before the events of the previous day filtered into his mind.

Immediately Hikaru sat up on his bed, eyes searching for the two ghosts, only to groan as he caught sight of the old one from the past sitting meditatively on the ground- air- whatever!

"Good morning Hikaru-kun," the old ghost greeted cheerfully.

"Morning," Hikaru grumbled back, eyes roving all over his room in search for the other ghost, the one of his older self. "Where's the other me?" He finally asked when he saw no sign of the jerk.

"Hikaru-san had something to do," the other ghost said, while inspecting the alarm clock curiously, "ne, Hikaru-kun, what is this and how is it screaming?"

Hikaru's eye twitched. "When will he be back?" He asked, ignoring the ghost's question because he didn't have time for this he was already late!

"Don't know," Sai answered succinctly, "he didn't say if he'd even be back at all."

"Good riddance," Hikaru snorted, ignoring the pang in his heart because for all his older self had been a douche toward him, Hikaru had looked forward to spending some time with him because how cool was that? He _time travelled_! That means (if his older self was okay with it) Hikaru could have the schedule and answers to _every single major test ever!_

"Ne, Hikaru-kun, the thing is still screaming," Sai said, pointing at the alarm clock with his fan.

"Oh for God's sake, that's just an alarm clock, and it's not screaming, it's ringing!" Hikaru gave it a good hard whack and nodded in satisfaction as it stopped screaming-er, ringing incessantly.

"What is an alarm clock and why does it ring?" Sai asked, floating after Hikaru as he headed toward the bathroom.

"It wake you up from sleep so you won't be late," Hikaru muttered as he dragged his feet to the bathroom. "Woah woah wait what are you doing?" He asked when Sai made to follow him into the room.

"Following you," Sai replied in confusion. "I cannot leave the radius around you," he explained, but was cut off by Hikaru.

"Not in here!" Hikaru hissed," this is a bathroom! Get out!" With that, he slammed the door on the ghost's face as soon as Sai floated out of the room, ignoring the cry of "Waaa! Hikaru-kun! That almost hit my face!" from the ghost.

Sai's observations of the hall outside the bathroom didn't help matters either. By the time Hikaru walked out of the house and met Akari as he usually does, his expression was as black as a raincloud.

"Woah," Akari commented as soon as she caught sight of him, "woke up on the wrong side of the bed today?"

"No," Hikaru snapped.

Akari rolled her eyes, and started walking after Hikaru made no move to. Unknown to her, Hikaru was being scolded by the Heian ghost that haunted him for being rude, and was having a mental war, and feeling as if today the entire world (and God) was against him and out to make his life hell.

* * *

Correction, Sai was a godsend.

First period of the day was History, and Hikaru had thought he was prepared for the test… Only to find that he wasn't really.

Hikaru had let his head hit the desk with a "thunk" once he saw that _every single question was difficult_ and he couldn't remember the names of the Emperor and his advisers even though he had just studied them the night before.

_'If this keeps up, I'll be scoring a zero in this test,_' moaned Hikaru morosely in his mind.

Sai, who had been peering over his shoulder at the test paper, had then tapped his folded fan against the question asking for the names of the Emperor and his advisers, rattling off their names and how to write them.

Gratefully, Hikaru had written down the names as Sai sparked his memory. Sai had also helped with a few of the open ended questions about the policies back in the past- it seems like Sai could be useful for something after all!

"How about this?" Hikaru asked Sai as he wrote down an answer to the 'suggest how the Emperor could have prevented an uprising which stripped him of his throne' essay.

"Silence over there!" The invigilating teacher barked, making Hikaru aware that he accidentally said it aloud. Hikaru winced and shot the teacher an apologetic glance.

"It is probable, but it might have been better if you added elaboration and explanations for what you think the Emperor did wrong and right, instead of just glazing over the points you said caused him to be overthrown.." Sai pointed out.

'_You're good at this. Do they teach you, like, literature in the past?_'

At Hikaru's praise, Sai had shyly hid his face behind his fan. "I was one of the Crown Prince's tutors."

'_No way, so not only do you play an old man's game and teach it to the Emperor, you teach the Prince literature_?'

"Yes, Hikaru-kun, I do." There was a tint of pride in the ghost's voice.

'_You're such a wimp. Literature, really_?' It was like a douse of cold water onto Sai, dampening his pride.

"Waaaa! Hikaru-kun is mean!" The ghost started tearing up, making Hikaru sigh.

"Sorry," Hikaru muttered under his breath. A curious glance from the person sitting at the desk adjacent to his made Hikaru hurriedly continue his sentence mentally, '_but someone just had to say it. I wonder how much cooler it'll be if I'm haunted by a samarai ghost or something! I bet you can't fight.'_

"I came from a warrior clan, of course I know how to fight," Sai argued, "but I don't want to hurt anyone."

"You can use swords?" Hikaru was so surprised, he asked out loud, and ducked his head sheepishly as a few classmates turned around and gave him a glare.

"I preferred the war fan."

Unbidden, an image of Sai's handheld fan came into mind- and Hikaru recalled the Disney movie "Mulan" where the heroine fought the villain with a pink silk fan. He put two and two together, imaging the effeminate ghost wielding his little paper fan and taking down other men much bigger sized than he.

Hikaru started laughing uncontrollably as Sai tried to stop him, but the invigilating teacher had enough.

"War fan, seriously?" Hikaru asked Sai incredulously as he was thrown out of the classroom due to being too disruptive.

On the bright side, at least he finished his test…

When school ended though, Hikaru went back to thinking that Sai was Divine Punishment sent from above to torment him.

For one, the ghost had not ceased his demands for Go, and older Hikaru had not come back to help his younger self handle the archaic ghost. Hikaru also did not know where to bring the ghost to satisfy him (Go Salons are expensive and messy and stinky and _expensive_) , and he could not concentrate on soccer with the ghost whining on one hand, and asking mundane questions on the other. In the end, Hikaru pleaded sick and went home to play his console games. Who knew headphones could be so useful?

Still, he hoped that his older self would return soon. Hikaru didn't feel good neglecting the Go-obssessed ghost, but it was just that he couldn't cater to Sai's needs without neglecting his own. Perhaps his older self could tell him how he did it, once he returned.

Where in the world could he be?

* * *

Underwater.

He felt like he was drowning.

Like he was three feet in the ground, the surface was _just there_ but he couldn't dig, or swim, or struggle his way out of the all-encompassing darkness. And the pressure. He couldn't breathe. Nor could he move his limbs.

What happened?

Somehow he knew that getting to the surface was important.

He felt as if it would be the end if he couldn't reach the surface. He remembered his greatest fear. Was he being pulled back to the future if he failed to reach the surface?

No, he can't go back so quickly, he was just _here_ for a day- less than that even! He had done nothing, spent so little time with Sai, he didn't want to go back, he didn't!

He renewed his struggles with vigor.

And then

He felt it. Feeling was returning back into his limbs. It made his bid for the surface easier. It was getting closer

And closer

And then he broke the surface

Took a deep breath, choking on something in his throat

Eyes opening

He hears

"Welcome back."


	4. Chapter III

The story is finally starting! :D Inform me if any mistakes are found.

* * *

**White Wind Anemones**

**Chapter 3: My Purpose**

* * *

Days passed.

A week passed. Then another was about to pass.

There. Was. No. Sign. Of. His elder self.

The Go obsessed ghost from the past was getting more and more antsy, irritating Hikaru more and more and more and more until-

"Argh! Fine! I'll bring you to a Go Salon tomorrow," Hikaru finally snapped after school ended on a Friday.

At the words, Sai started cheering and crying tears of joy.

Hikaru shook his head at the childish ghost's antics, muttering about how this was stupid, him catering to a ghost. He had been tempted to tell his mother about the haunting and go see an exorcist, but Sai wasn't malicious (albeit a bit annoying), and he knew his boundaries, not possessing Hikaru even though he could. Hikaru had also harboured hope that his older self would appear again the longer he kept Sai around.

Sai was terrible when he was unhappy. It made Hikaru nauseous all the time when the ghost cried. At first, Hikaru had thought it was just something he ate. Then as days passed and the feeling kept resurfacing whenever the ghost was upset, Hikaru found out that it was the ghost who was influencing his mood. It was easy to redirect Sai's attention the first few days, but it started getting harder as time passed.

"When are we playing Go, Hikaru-kun?" Sai would ask daily after school as Hikaru headed to soccer practice.

"Never," began Hikaru, always before he would feel like vomitting and rush to the toilet.

It got so bad that his teachers thought he had something wrong with his head, ("he's talking to himself, all the time during lessons!") and informed his mother.

Hikaru's mother thought her son had an eating disorder, with the number of times she noticed he went to the toilet and heard retching sounds after.

Annoyed, Hikaru assured his mother it was nothing like that and she was overreacting. He told his teachers that him talking to himself was a new way of studying he came up with, and they couldn't dispute that. After all, with Sai around, nagging at Hikaru to at least study ("I guess Go can wait until you're done studying..") and helping him in tests (every subject but Math, but he was coping fine with that), Hikaru's grades started improving.

His mother had been quite happy about that. "Perhaps you might even be able to get into Kaio, instead of a rankless neighbourhood school if your grades keep up to the end of the year."

Hikaru didn't protest, even though he was certain he didn't want to go into an elite school like Kaio, where most of the people, teachers, students and parents alike were snobs he was sure. But then again, Kaio also had a decent soccer club, unlike Haze, the only school his rank points for his mid year exams allowed him to attend, which had no outstanding clubs at all.

Speaking of soccer, Hikaru felt like playing with his friends in their makeshift 'soccer club' today..

"But," continued Hikaru, determined to burst Sai's bubble, "that means you'll have to leave me alone for soccer practice today."

Usually, Sai would be floating around Hikaru, even running in front of the ball all of a sudden because of some stupid reason or another. It always resulted in Hikaru either fumbling or running headfirst into the ghost, disorientating himself as he was the only one that could touch the ghost and the only one whom Sai could touch. This time, Hikaru made Sai sit at the side, so that the ghost wouldn't pose a hazard to him.

It was the best practice Hikaru ever had, as Sai had been cheering from the sidelines. On the way back home, Sai had even asked about soccer rules and chatted with Hikaru about the sport. Hikaru very enthusiastically answered Sai's questions, and thought that maybe, just maybe, he could get along with the ghost yet.

The peace was broken when Hikaru got home and the home phone was ringing.

"The fellyfone is screaming again, Hikaru-kun," Sai pointed out.

"It's a telly phone. Just call it 'phone' for goodness sake, Sai. And it's not screaming, it's ringing," Hikaru sighed in exasperation as he went to pick it up. He stared at the words on the phone's display. 40 missed calls from the same [Unknown Caller].

"Hello?" Hikaru asked hesitantly as he pressed 'answer'.

"Hello, is this the Shindo residence?" A professional sounding voice came from the receiver.

"Yes." Hearing the professional sounding voice, Hikaru tried to mimic a serious tone.

"This is Tokyo National Hospital. We need a 'Shindo Hikaru' to come down to the hospital as soon as possible…"

* * *

**One And A Half Weeks Ago**

The first thing Hikaru saw when he woke up was white walls and a white ceiling. Then he noticed the doctor in a white coat standing near his bed, casting a shadow on the white sheets that covered his body. Something was beeping consistently nearby, way too loud for Hikaru's sensitive ears.

"What's happening?" Hikaru tried to ask, only to hear some unintelligible sound come from his throat. Horrified, he tried to life his arm to touch his throat, only to realise that he couldn't. He was on the verge of panicking when the doctor started talking in a soothing tone, calming him down significantly.

"Hello, I am Tenso Kakashi, your doctor. You're in Tokyo National Hospital. You've just woken from a year long coma. Do you understand what I've said so far?"

Hikaru tried to nod, but he only managed to shift his head a bit to the left. It was like his brain wasn't connecting well with this new body.

The doctor nodded, murmured something to his nurses, which Hikaru just realised were standing behind the doctor also clad in white, then turned back to Hikaru.

"Please cooperate with us, alright?" The doctor asked, but before Hikaru could give an indication of an answer, the doctor carried on with his examination. The doctor- Dr Tenso, Hikaru reckoned he should start addressing him as such- put Hikaru through a series of tests and physical examinations.

Hikaru started regaining his strength after fifteen minutes of being awake, forcing himself to overcome the urge to sleep, resulting in feeling more energetic than lethargic after awhile. He started being able to move his arms and legs as well, though there was still an IV drip in his arm, cautioned Dr Tenso. Hikaru also managed to speak again, albeit with a raspy voice that sounded very different.

Dr Tenso had nodded with a satisfied smile after Hikaru had whispered "Thank you," when a nurse gave him a glass of water. It hurt when he swallowed, but he felt very much better.

"Can you speak now?" Dr Tenso asked Hikaru gently.

"Yes," Hikaru rasped. His mind was swirling with unanswered questions.

"Very good," Dr Tenso praised. He hesitated, before asking, "do you remember what happened?"

Hikaru was silent for a moment. He was debating what to say. On one hand, this may be his original timeline, and he had no idea why he was in the hospital. On the other hand, he felt like had not left the timeline from the past, and he also had no idea why he was in the hospital. The last he remembered was following the 'pull' he felt as a ghost, then ending up in that dark-pond-place, and at last struggling to move in this hospital bed with a physical body. If he said no… Would the doctor think there was something wrong with his mind? He needed to get out of here and find out where he was!

"No." Hikaru said finally, opting to tell the truth instead of telling lies and getting the lies wrong.

"I would have expected it to be so," Dr Tenso said, looking up from his clipboard which he was writing on.

"What happened?" Hikaru interrupted, not caring if he was rude.

Dr Tenso sighed, looking worried. "It can't be helped, I have to tell you. You and your parents were involved in a car accident. Your parents perished immediately, you were on the verge of dying, but we managed to save you. You were in a coma until yesterday, where you showed signs of waking up.."

"How long?"

Dr Tenso took the question to mean Hikaru was confused about the date. "It is now 25 August 2000*. You were in a coma for a year."

Something was nagging at Hikaru though. Something was wrong with his body. Maybe it was the balance of his limbs. Maybe it was his hair, which felt so long, since the nurses must have not cut it since he fell into a coma. But he had to ask. "Who am I?"

Dr Tenso scrutinized him warily, and Hikaru saw one of the nurses behind the doctor wince. Hikaru feared that he said something wrong, but the doctor just answered him without inflection.

"You are Fujiwara Saichi, female, fourteen years old this year with your birthday on 20 September. Height 162cm, weight 39kg since your hospitalization. Your parents are Fujiwara Mitsu and- oh my goodness!" Dr Tenso gasped at the end, interrupting himself as his patient jerked in bed at his first sentence, knocking her head against the metal rails keeping her from rolling off the bed. The nurse Yuui, the more experienced of the trio of nurses with Dr Tenso, immediately started forward to steady Saichi.

The patient's eyes were wide with disbelief. "Wha-what?" She asked with an undertone of fear.

Dr Tenso gave her time to process the information, watching Fujiwara Saichi as she clenched her fists on the bedsheets and released them in intervals.

"What's going to happen to me now?" Fujiwara Saichi's voice trembled as she asked the question.

Dr Tenso took it to mean she was scared, now that she lost her parents, she would be all alone in the world. "Fujiwara-chan," he started with just the right amount of care in his voice, to not seem too close yet too distant from his patient, "are you sure you want to talk about this now?" There was no one left in her family- nobody to take her in. She was still underage. She might be able to live on her own due to the trust fund and inheritance she had, but if her mind was unstable or physically too weak, the Welfare Community workers will likely press for her to either be fostered or given to an orphanage until she became of age. Of course, her opinion in this matter would be taken into consideration as well.

"Call me Hikaru-iii," Fujiwara Saichi said, voice wavering. "Hikari, I mean."

At Dr Tenso's inquiring gaze, Fujiwara Saichi smiled weakly and offered: "My parents used to call me that. It's my nickname of sorts. I'm more used to it."

"Very well, Hikari-san. Would you like to know anything else?" Dr Tenso asked.

Fujiwara Saichi was an anomaly. She was in a coma for a year, but she didn't behave like most patients. She woke up very quickly, just an afternoon of symptoms before she stirred awake, and even then, she was alert and articulate. It wasn't to say that Dr Tenso hadn't met such a coma patient before, but it was significant that a fourteen year old would have possessed so much will to live that she was already coping so well.

"Tell me everything. I want to get out of here." As Fujiwara Saichi- no, Hikari- looked up at Dr Tenso with firey intensity in her teal colored eyes, Dr Tenso found himself admiring this girl he didn't know, not really. But he admired her all the same.

* * *

For the entirity of the next week, Fujiwara Saichi was a hot topic among the staff in Tokyo National Hospital.

The psychiatrist and physiotherapist assigned to the patient , Dr Isobe and Dr Kobe respectively, were telling anyone who would listen how their newest charge was improving in leaps and bounds, and would soon be discharged.

Everyone who heard about the poor girl's plight had their heartstrings tugged.

"So the welfare community is allowing the girl to live on her own?" Yuui, a well-known senior nurse, clarified with Dr Kobe.

Dr Kobe nodded solemnly. "While Hikari still gets tired easily, she can move all her limbs now, and do normal daily chores."

"But still? They're leaving a barely teenage girl who just recovered from a coma by her lonesome with no adult supervision? What were they thinking!"

Dr Isobe made a placating gesture. "Hikari is mature well beyond her years, the Welfare Community workers took that into consideration, and it was also Hikari's own choice."

"Hikari also told me that she had a family in Tokyo that she was close to- the Shindos. She is best friends with their child apparently. The elder Fujiwaras possess property in many cities in Japan, two of which are located in Tokyo, and one of the houses in Tokyo is located not far from the Shindos' residence. If anything, you can be sure that the Welfare Community will see to it." Dr Kobe added.

"So you're just going to trust the words of a coma patient with no questions asked?!" Yuui almost yelled.

Dr Kobe looked frightened at the nurse's outburst. "Of course not! We're planning on asking the Shindos to come pick Hikari up from the hospital tomorrow, so you can be sure they exist. Welfare Comm also did a background check, everything checks out."

"'Everything checks out, hmm?'" Nurse Yuui quoted, "what if they had under the table dealings? What if they are drug traffickers?"

"Yuui, I know you see the girl as almost your own, but this is ridiculous. Would you just trust the Welfare Comm that they've done their job?" Dr Isobe sighed, noticibly irritated.

"Fine," Yuui snarked, "I'll keep my comments for tomorrow. Then you'll see how bad an idea it is!"

The two doctors could only shrug helplessly at each other as Yuui stomped off. They could almost see the steam coming from the senior nurse's ears.

* * *

**Present**

"Who the heck is Fujiwara Saichi?" Hikaru griped as he travelled toward Tokyo National Hospital. Turning toward Sai, Hikaru apologised, _"sorry about this, Sai. I'll bring you to a Go Salon after this."_

"It's alright, Hikaru-kun," Sai accepted his apology gracefully. "There will be time in the afternoon."

Hikaru had received a phone call from Tokyo National Hospital on Friday, the evening before. It had called for a member of the Shindo household to pick up a person named Fujiwara Saichi from the hospital.

Now, Hikaru would have dismissed it as a prank call, because he didn't know a Fujiwara Saichi, not really. But he did know a Fujiwara no Sai, and said Fujiwara no Sai had been floating and gazing at the phone in awe. Hikaru had felt a curious determination to get to the bottom of this, so he told the nurse at the other end of the phone that he'd go to Tokyo National Hospital the next day.

As Hikaru walked into the reception hall of the Hospital, Sai marvelled at the architecture of the place. Tokyo National Hospital was a very modern looking building indeed.

"Good morning," Hikaru greeted the nurse at the reception politely. It was the atmosphere of the place that made him feel like he had to act on his best behavior. "I'm here to see a Fujiwara Saichi?" Gosh, that name was weird. The nurse had addressed Saichi as a female, but Hikaru was certain Saichi was a boy's name.

And if his and Sai's hunch was correct, should Fujiwara Saichi not be Hikaru's future self? So how could 'Saichi' be a girl?

"Ah, Shindo, was it?" The nurse peered down at him, waving over another nurse. "Senior nurse Takashino Yuui will bring you to Fujiwara-san's ward."

The new nurse, Takashino Yuui, had given Hikaru a strange look. "Follow me," she had said, walking toward the lift. "Where are your parents..?" Takashino-san asked, and Hikaru had the feeling that she was judging him where he stood.

"At work," Hikaru answered easily. It was mostly true, his father was overseas at work, again, and his mother was busy working overtime on a client's case, and was tired out, as evident in her still sleeping in this morning. Sometimes, Hikaru wished his parents paid more attention to him, but they had to work to bring food to the table and to live comfortably, so Hikaru really had no right to demand more of them.

"I see." The nurse pressed the lift button to the fifth floor, and then the lift door closed, leaving Hikaru and the nurse as the only occupants of the lift.

"Ooh! Hikaru! What's this? What does it do? The door closed by itself, and the buttons light up!" Sai blabbered enthusiastically as he pushed his face out of the lift, probably gazing at the insides of the lift's system. "I can't see anything!"

Hikaru had almost snickered at Sai's reaction, but caught himself just in time as the door of the lift opened. It wouldn't be good if the nurse caught him laughing. 'It's a lift, Sai, I'll explain to you how it works later.' he told Sai as the nurse asked him a question, interrupting his train of thoughts as he thought of how to explain what a lift was to Sai.

"So how close are you to Fujiwara-chan?" Takashino-san asked as they swept through the corridor, past doors leading to wards, the same time as Sai chirped "okay!" and went on a monologuing rampage ("Oh! This is a hospital?" "There's a person in here!" "Why is everything white?") as he stuck his head through said doors.

"Erm," Hikaru hoped that his bullshit skills were up to par. This 'Fujiwara Saichi' better be who he thought it was. "Very close, I bet I know Saichi better than anyone else." It should be true, since they were essentially the same person. But gosh, the name 'Saichi' felt weird on his tongue.

The nurse had not seemed convinced, so Hikaru started rattling off his own likes and dislikes, like ramen, the color yellow, the number five. Takashino-san had seemed more and more convinced, and much more accepting of Hikaru once they stopped at a door and walked in.

"Hikari, Shindo-san's here." Takashino-san called as they walked in. Hikaru's brain, however, had stopped when the nurse called out 'Hikari'. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry as his suspicions were confirmed.

The girl sitting on the edge of the bed looked a bit older than Hikaru, around 13–14 years of age, much like older Hikaru's actual age. She had long black hair, very much like Sai's hair, and only time would tell if it had a purple sheen under sunlight, and weirdly colored eyes, a mix between Hikaru's own green eyes and Sai's purple. The closest color would be teal, Hikaru supposed. The resemblance to both Sai and Hikaru himself was startling, with her androgynous face, and her current baggy clothing hiding her other feminine features.

The girl was looking a bit pale and a little on the thin side, but it was understandable if she had been in a car accident and in a coma for the last year, as Hikaru had been informed by the nurse on the phone yesterday. "Hi brat," she said, her voice a tad hoarse, also understandable since she was still getting used to talking after a year of none.

"So it is you!" Hikaru gaped. Sai had gone silent and his eyes had also widened in disbelief.

"Yeah it's me," the girl assured him, looking quite sour at her current predicament.

Hysterical giggles were rising in younger Hikaru's throat, and soon he was laughing. "What.. What happened?" He squeaked, not the least bit sympathetic. _'Karma does have a funny way of working. Payback for the treatment he gave me on the first day!'_

"What's karma?" Sai asked.

The girl that was future Hikaru's gaze flicked toward Sai, confirmation that she could still see and hear the ghost, but she didn't reply. Not verbally.

_'It's luck based on one's actions.'_ Female older Hikaru's voice was clearer, and less hoarse and so delightfully _female_ when she projected it to both Sai and her younger self that younger, and still_ male_ Hikaru had laughed even harder.

The nurse Takashino-san had eyed Hikaru warily, but chalked it up to an inside joke between the teens. Well, the teen and tween.

"Can you stand?" Hikaru asked Hikari between giggles, and thinking of his older self as Hikari prompted another episode. Hikaru then gasped as his older self projected his annoyance at him through their three way link. Since Hikaru was alive and Sai was not, Hikaru felt the annoyance ten times magnified, making him feel queasy. He would have vomited then and there had he not been conditioned with Sai's magnified emotions for almost the last two weeks.

"I was supposed to be discharged yesterday, but you could only come today, and Nurse Takashino-san wanted to see that the Shindo family really existed, so I decided to stay another day. Of course I can stand. I can walk too," Hikari (oh gosh, how he laughed!) had retorted indignantly. "Let's go," she ushered her younger self and Sai out of the ward. "I'll explain stuff later. Goodbye Takashino-san!"

"Take care," the nurse Takashino-san called, "If you feel unwell, don't hesitate to come back and get a check up."

Once the trio was out of earshot of the nurse, who stayed in the ward to clear the equipment and prepare it for the next patient, Hikaru spun around and confronted his older self. "Okay, spill, what happened to you? Not that I'm complaining of course."

The girl- Saichi- looked like she ate a dead rat. "I felt a pull that night I left you. I followed the pull. I ended up in my subconcious, I think. Then I woke up in this body. The end."

"Wh-Why is it a girl's body?" Hikaru could barely suppress his laughter just thinking about it.

"I don't know," the girl grounded out, "I miss the feeling of little Hikaru too okay? So stop it!"

Younger Hikaru turned red at the insinuation. Sai couldn't get the reference, so he was just silent.

"I have a hypothesis though. I cannot exist in the past, as there already is you in this dimension. When Kami-sama sent me back, it wasn't possible for two Shindo Hikarus to exist. That's why I started out as a ghost as well. But I wasn't anchored to anything, unlike Sai who is anchored to Shusaku's Goban. My anchor in this world turns out to be this body. I think the real Fujiwara Saichi's soul has departed, leaving the empty shell of the body for Kami-sama to anchor me to," elder Hikaru, now Hikari, explained as they went down the lift.

"Interesting and very probable hypothesis, Hikaru-san." Sai had tapped his fan thoughtfully against his chin as elder Hikaru had explained his hypothesis. "Would you like me to call you Hikari-san or Saichi-san now?"

"No!" Elder-Hikaru-in-a-girl's-body yelped. "I'd like to be Hikaru to you, if only you, Sai." Sai had nodded his assent.

"What should I call you then?" Younger Hikaru asked. "Saichi or Hikari? Honestly, both are pretty weird to me," he shuddered.

"…You decide, and honestly, I agree with you," elder Hikaru said after a brief pause.

"I'll just call you 'hey', then," volunteered Hikaru.

"Whatever," said 'hey', as they walked out of the hospital. "Oh fresh air!" She exclaimed happily, then turned to Hikaru. "What's the plan for today?"

"What plan? Don't you have to go home? Where are your parents in this world?" Hikaru asked the same time Sai chirped, "Hikaru-kun is bringing me to a Go salon!"

"Dead, if you mean Fujiwara Saichi's, " Hikari said flippantly, and tilted her head to show Sai that she heard what he said. "And my parents are your parents, remember?"

"Then where are you living? Who are your guardians? " Hikaru asked impatiently.

"Nobody. That's why nurse Takashino-san was so worried for me. I have a house near yours/mine that the Welfare Community members have told me they decked out and is fit for living in."

"Your parents must have been loaded," Hikaru said, impressed. "Are you sure you can live on your own?" Because even if Hikari was older, Hikaru himself could not think of living on his own.

"I'll be fine, brat. I.. Might get a little lonely though, so can I borrow Sai once in awhile?"

"You can borrow him anytime," Hikaru assured his older self, before furrowing his eyebrows. "But.. Can he leave my side? Sai told me before that he couldn't leave a radius around me.." Sai had nodded at that, but had looked thoughtful as he considered Hikari.

"No way but to find out," declared Hikari, walking in the general direction of the train. "Sai, come with me! Brat, I'll see you at the Touya Meijin's Go Salon. I hope you know where that is?"

"No?"

Hikari rattled off a bunch of directions, then shook her head when Hikaru looked even more lost that before. "Forget it, we'll experiment tomorrow. Leave Sai with me for the night. Now, I'll bring you to the Go salon, you better remember where it's at. It's going to be significant in the future."

"Why?"

Hikari didn't deem her younger self's question with a reply, instead, started the journey with him rushing after her as she started walking. "I've been thinking since the last week," Hikari started after awhile of silence," I have a new plan that involved letting Sai play all the Go he wants, and teaching you how to play Go, yet letting_ you_ play your soccer whenever you want."

Hikaru perked up there. He hadn't forgotten his older self's declaration that he was no longer allowed to play soccer and he was meant to devote his time to letting Sai play Go. "What's the new plan?"

"I will play for Sai, all the time." Turning to address the ghost, Hikari looked serious. "Sai, live through me. I devote my entire life to you."

"Hikaru-san.." Sai had teared up, looking very touched. Before he could protest, like Hikari knew he would do, she continued.

"Even Kami-sama willed it to be. Look at my body, at my name! Look at my circumstances. Everything is falling so perfectly into place. Tell me that God had not willed it so. I will play for you, Sai. I will be your incarnation upon this earth. But don't worry about me…" She turned to Hikaru, her younger self, "I will also be living," she finished with a soft smile.


	5. Chapter IV

**White Wind Anemones **

**Chapter Four**

Hikaru felt hungry, so he whined and pleaded until older Hikaru- no, Hikari- no, _Fujiwara Saichi_\- gave in and brought her younger self and the tag-along Go ghost to a ramen stall nearby Touya Meijin's salon.

Hikari/Saichi felt like she was going through an identity crisis.

"How do I address you anyway?" Hikaru the younger scowled after Hikari/Saichi blew up when Hikaru called her 'onee-san'. He had also gotten scolded by a passer-by before that, when he addressed Hikari/Saichi as 'hey you'. The passer-by thought it was unbelievably rude.

Hikaru was forced to apologise and come up with another way to address the older.. girl.. and decided on "onee-san".

(Hikari/Saichi had not been not amused. "Do you want ramen? Do you? If you do, don't call me _onee-san_ for goodness sake!")

Hikari/Saichi/Hikaru the older sighed. "I really don't know," she said unsurely. "I need more time to come to terms with this."

"Using Hikari is weird, so is Saichi, because _he's_ Sai," Hikaru jerked his head at Sai discretely, "And no way I'm calling you Hikaru. _I'm_ Hikaru."

"Yeah yeah." Hikari/Saichi's facial expression was sour.

"How about Hikari-chi?" Suggested Hikaru, green eyes sparkling with laughter.

"Don't you dare, else I'd call you _Hikaru-chan_," threatened Hikari/Saichi.

"Fine with me, Hikari-chi."

For that, Saichi made sure to buy Hikaru a ramen bowl without any ingredients except the noodles and soup base. Hikaru threw a tantrum and kept shooting Saichi betrayed looks throughout their meal.

Saichi practically inhaled his-er, her ramen. Going two weeks without flavourful food would do that to anyone, not to mention ramen was one of the bo-er, girl's favourite food. She shuddered just thinking about the bland hospital food she had to eat, and chewed on an egg with vindictive glee. She just hoped her stomach wouldn't rebel. Even her throat still hadn't fully recovered from the coma.

Most of Fujiwara Saichi's household things were settled by the Welfare Community, or so Saichi was informed. The Community had given her a debit card linked straight to her trust fund. Her schooling details were still being sorted out, and a Welfare Community Worker would visit her house every four days for a month to ensure that she was settling well into her life.

Saichi's trust fund wasn't scarce, so Hikaru the elder started feeling guilty when she felt greed upon seeing the money available at her disposal. Saichi's parents left the money for Saichi, and Hikaru the elder was Saichi now.. She had bowed her head and gave a minute of silence in thanks to the real, now dead Saichi, and her parents.

Hikaru hadn't complained about his plain ramen, as Saichi was the one who paid for it. Sai had asked what 'ramen' was and Saichi had explained what it was to the ghost with great relish. It was a great gift that she managed to talk to Sai again. She'd do anything, even _be a girl_, in order to stay right here and now in order to spend more time with Sai.

"Here we are," Saichi announced as they stopped outside Touya Meijin's Go salon, after finishing lunch.

"What are we doing here?" Hikaru the younger asked, puzzled. "This is a Go salon? It looks really high class."

Saichi nodded, "it is owned by the Meijin after all."

"Meijin?" Hikaru asked the time as Sai gushed, "can we play Go here?"

"Yes we can play Go here and the Meijin is a title, like Honinbo. You know, Honinbo Shusaku?"

Hikaru knew who Honinbo Shusaku was, thanks to Sai. But what's a title? Before he could ask, Saichi was already walking into the salon, and he rushed to catch up.

"Hi," Saichi greeted the woman behind the counter cheerfully.

The woman smiled back. "Welcome. Do you play Go? Is it your first time here? I don't think I've seen you here before, young lady."

"Yes to both questions," Saichi replied politely. "I'm here to show my little brother here how to play Go today. How much do I have to pay?"

"What a good sister you are!" The lady, Ichikawa as seen from her name tag, gushed. "It's 500 yen for children. If your brother isn't playing, I'll let you in for just 500 yen."

"Yeah, he isn't playing, I just want to play against a real opponent to show him how this game is played, before teaching him back at home," Saichi explained as she counted out 500 yen in change and put it on the counter.

Ichikawa pushed the entry book at Saichi, sweeping the 500 yen into her palm and counting the coins. "Please write your name and Go level here."

Hikaru piped up, confused, here. "What's Go level? They're talking about it like it's a video game. How can you level up and stuff while playing a board game?"

Saichi flashed a grin at her younger self. Hikaru flushed self conciously at his own stupid question.

"You don't 'level up' as in a game." Saichi explained," since we're not professionals or anything, level just means how good you are, or you think you are, at this game."

"Oh." Hikaru's mouthed open in an 'o'. His eyes flicked toward Sai. Saichi could hear the hidden question: how strong is Sai?

Saichi wrote her name down on the entry book as 'Fujiwara Hikari'. She was avoiding the usage of 'Saichi' as it would have been detrimental to her anonymity when she let Sai play NetGo again. As for Go level, Saichi left it blank.

'_Why did you leave it blank?_' Hikaru asked via their three way mind connection.

'_I doubt it would go over very well if I wrote "as strong as a title holder",_' Saichi answered dryly. '_That's how strong Sai is at this game, weren't you listening when he told you?_'

Sai had gulped, hiding his red face behind his open fan. "You flatter me, Hikaru-san, I'm good at this game, but I'm not that good yet. And what is a title holder?"

'_Not yet,_' Saichi agreed, '_there are a lot of new rules you need to get used to first, but I know you, Sai. You are the best Go player, and I will let the world know you are. I'll explain more about title holders and insei later._'

Sai had been too shy to answer that compliment, though both Saichi and Hikaru could feel his happiness radiating through their link.

Hikaru caught sight of someone while looking across the Go salon, as Saichi knew he would. "Hey, there's a kid," Hikaru exclaimed loudly, before clapping a hand over his mouth when the other patrons turned around to glare at the trio. Duo, actually, since Sai couldn't been seen by them.

The kid in question was Touya Akira, who was sitting near a pair of relatively old men and overseeing their game. He looked up at Hikaru's exclaimation, blinking as he noticed Saichi's intense gaze.

'_That is Touya Akira and he will be your rival in the future_,' Saichi stated.

'_My rival?_' Hikaru asked. '_Rivals like Satoshi and Shigeru (Ash and Gary) in Pokemon?_'

'_Exactly_,' Saichi said. '_I, and Sai, will teach you Go until you can stand toe to toe with him._'

'_I'm not interested in Go,_' Hikaru grumbled, but Saichi had already moved forward and asked Touya Akira for a game, not replying Hikaru.

"Would you play a game with me?" Saichi asked extremely cheerfully.

Hikaru inched away at that voice. His older self was being creepy again. That tone of voice meant that Saichi knew something that the rest of them didn't- and it never bode well for Hikaru.

To Touya Akira's credit, he didn't bat an eyelash. "Erm.. Are you sure?" He asked, uncertainly. "I'm not a good opponent for beg- um.." He had cut off what he wanted to say because he thought it would have sounded condescending.

Saichi almost cackled at that. Touya certainly didn't know how to reject someone's offer to play Go. "Please?" Saichi pressed. "My little brother would like to see me play against another kid."

Hikaru, bless that kid, played along and nodded frantically. "No old geezers please," he hissed loud enough for Sai, Saichi and Touya to hear, but not said 'old geezers' in the salon. Seems like even he knew how bad an idea that would be. "That'll be boring."

"I guess that's okay.." Touya gave in uncertainly. "We can have a game at the back," he suggested, leading the two people and one ghost to an empty table at the back.

Saichi remembered that table to be the table at which they had their first game back in the original timeline as well. She used her feet to push an extra chair from the adjacent table, gesturing for Hikaru to sit. "Thanks," she said as she sat down opposite Touya.

"I'm Touya Akira," Touya introduced, not very subtly searching Saichi and Hikaru's faces for any sign of recognition.

Saichi almost cackled again at Touya's surprise when he found none. Not even a twitch, just a girl a few years older than him, grinning in anticipation for a game and a boy with bleached bangs his age looking quite lost indeed.

"I'm Shindo Hikaru," Hikaru introduced himself, likely hoping to seem less lost than he actually was. "And.. I guess that's my sister in a way.. I think." Needless to say, it didn't work.

"Call me Hikari," Saichi said as she nudged another chair over from the other adjacent table and dumped her small bag on it. '_Sai, have a seat,_' she called. '_It's your game_.'

Sai gingerly sat down on the chair. Saichi's bag, which only contained cash, a few cards and house keys, was strategically placed at the corner, so it wouldn't hinder him sitting down even if he was tangible, yet it wouldn't raise questions as to why Saichi wanted an extra chair.

"Erm," Touya started, "how good are you at Go?" He then flushed when he realized it was a rude question. "I-I mean, what's your Go level?"

"Over 9999," Hikaru cut in, crying out "ow!" when Saichi gave him a nougie for it.

"Not sure," Saichi shrugged. "We'll see though. I think I'm quite good," she said smugly as she took the proffered stone bowl. Well, at least Sai is, she snuck a glance at Sai, happy to note that he was smiling too. "Shall we nigiri?"

Touya had stuttered there again. "A-are you sure you don't want to put down a couple of stones?"

Saichi found it strangely endearing that young Touya was so socially awkward around kids his age. Saichi had declined Touya's offer the same time Hikaru had snapped, "why don't _you_ put down some stones? Sa- Hikari would wipe the floor with you!" Huh. Seems like Hikaru knew of Sai's expertise in Go as well

Saichi had initially tried to avoid drawing attention, but it seems that two Hikarus in one Go salon made that impossible. Hikaru's loud declaration was met with derision from the other elderly patrons of the Go Salon.

"Nigiri," Saichi repeated, and Touya gave up trying to convince her otherwise. Saichi got black and Touya had white. '_Sai, this game is all yours. Just tell me where you'd like to place your stone and I'll do it for you._'

"Thank you Hikaru-san!" Sai chirped and, using his fan, pointed out the spot on the board which Saichi knew to be one of his favourite starting moves. '_Typical Shuusaku,_' Saichi thought fondly, before shaking her head when Hikaru turned toward her questioningly.

The game unfolded into something beautiful. Saichi fumbled with some of the stones as this body of hers wasn't precisely conditioned to holding Go stones yet. However, after the game proceeded into midgame, she was so deeply immersed in appreciating everything the game had which she'd thought she lost forever that she only broke out of her daze when Touya resigned.

Saichi stared at Touya, whose eyes were fixated on the board, fists clenched on his lap. It was when she tilted her head at an angle that she caught sight of Sai, who had stood up and postioned himself behind her somewhere during the game, and had hidden the bottom half of his face behind his fan.

'_Are you crying?_' Hikaru's mental voice sounded incredulous when he noticed Sai's suspiciously moist eyes.

"It was a beautiful game." Saichi offered to both Sai and Touya. "Thank you. Would you like a discussion?" Saichi asked the same time Hikaru wailed "nooooo!"

It was tough for her younger self to stay seated watching a board game which he didn't understand. She resolved to treat the kid to some ice cream, or more ramen later. That, and teach him the basics tonight.

Touya had remained mute and still, shocked eyes fixated on the Go bored.

"Suit yourself," Saichi muttered, before standing up and stretching.

Hikaru took the cue and was up and out of the Go salon before Saichi even picked up her bag. She rolled her eyes as she met the gaze of Ishikawa, who had smiled back amusedly.

"Are you leaving already?" Ishikawa asked.

"Yep, seems like the brat's run of patience," Saichi replied.

"It's boring," Hikaru whined, coming back in. "The match didn't seem very balanced either."

"A little," Saichi grinned.

"Hmmm.." Ishikawa smiled, before seemed to suddenly remember something, as she fumbled beneath the counter and procured a leaflet. "You two might be interested in a children's Go tournament being held next week at the convention center. It's not very far from here."

Hikaru took the leaflet and scrutinized it. "Will the kids there be strong? That guy back there wasn't very-"

"It's alright, Touya is unmatched by anyone his age. The kids attending that competition will be strong too," Ishikawa interrupted, before continuing on proudly. "Maybe you'll be motivated to take up Go, and who knows, you might even be able to participate in a Go tournament eventually!"

"Cheh," Hikaru had dismissed, but Saichi noticed that Ishikawa's words had annoyed Hikaru a little.

"We'll be going now," Saichi said politely after thanking the woman behind the counter, then herded both Hikaru and Sai out of the salon.

As they walked along the streets following Saichi's lead, Sai was glancing longingly at the childrens' Go tournament leaflet, while Hikaru was glaring daggers at it. "Maybe I'll be able to participate in a Go tournament eventually. Really?" Hikaru scowled, offended. "Like it'll take much to play this old man's game."

Saichi grinned at Hikaru's words. "I'm teaching you Go tonight. So.. Ice cream or ramen? I owe you something for your spectacular patience."

"Ramen!" Hikaru immediately perked up, unclenching his fist from around the leaflet. Saichi deftly snatched it from his fingers and examined it. "Hey! I was looking at that."

"Yeah," Saichi waved off Hikaru's concerns. "It's next Saturday. Wanna go?"

"Not really.." Hikaru muttered. On the other hand, Sai, who had been staring silently and starry eyed at the leaflet, gasped, "Yes, please! Can we gooooooo?"

"That's great then," Saichi nodded, totally ignoring her younger self. "I'll meet you at the front of your house Saturday morning 8am."

"No!" Hikaru squawked indignantly, while Sai had a mini celebration in the background. "How am I supposed to explain you to my mom and Akari?"

"You mean, our mom and Akari."

"MY mom!"

".. Yeah, yeah, whatever," Saichi felt a pang then as she realised the brat was right. Shindou Mitsuko was no longer her mother.

Before the gloomy mood was picked up by Hikaru, they were at the doorstep of the ramen place, and the brat was gone.

"One bowl of extra hot tonkotsu ramen and add another egg!" Hikaru ordered, giving a daring smirk when he felt Saichi's unimpressed stare at his back. "Onee-chan's treating!"

Saichi growled. "What did I say about calling me onee-chan?"

"You had no problem with it just now at the Go salon," Hikaru said, sticking his tongue out.

"That was because-" Saichi stopped mid-sentence as she realised something. She didn't really think about it when Hikaru called her his sister during their act at the Go salon. But now that she thought about it, she realised she didn't really care anymore. "Whatever. Oji-san (uncle) give me a plain ramen please." While she liked ramen, her stomach was roiling just thinking about eating ramen again. Guess the stomach wasn't used to actually working on real food yet.

(She could just hear Waya screaming in her mind about how unhealthy ramen was and are you sure the doctor would have approved?)

"Stay here," Saichi told Hikaru as, after a few mouthfuls of ramen, decided that when her stomach says no it means no. The oil on the surface of Hikaru's tonkotsu ramen turned her stomach too. Stupid stomach. She quite looked forward to the day where she could have all three meals as ramen. Seems like dinner would be light today. "I need to go walk around to get some fresh air, so we might as well test this out now. Sai, let's go!"

"Sit," Saichi commanded again, like she would a dog. Hikaru glared balefully up at her, a bunch of noodles hanging out from his mouth. "Good boy. Don't go anywhere until I come get you." And then she left.

"Older sister, huh. I feel you." The ramen stall owner called to Hikaru from the counter. They were the only two in the stall, so it wasn't very much of a nuisance. "My elder sister was always like that too. Bossy and embarrassing. Still is actually."

"She's not my sister," Hikaru called back grumpily.

The stall owner just smiled knowingly.

* * *

"Do you feel like you need to go?" Saichi asked Sai as they walked along.

"No," Sai replied, "I think the bond has somehow centered around you now, Hikaru-san."

"Hmm.. Try going back to Hikaru now- woah!" Saichi jerked back as Sai just vanished. "Wait what. Sai? SAI!"

A couple of passers-by stared at Saichi as if she was crazy. She didn't care. "Sai!" She called again. '_Sai! Where are you?_'

'_Here!_' Sai and Hikaru said together. '_Scared me to death, I tell you,_' complained Hikaru,'_he__ just appeared, upside down and I almost choked on my noodles- woah! He disappeared!_'

Sai immediately materialised in front of Saichi. "Did I scare you?" He asked, concerned as he took note of Saichi's face, which had relief painted all over it.

"Yeah, a bit," she muttered. '_But now we know it works. Sai can center around either me or you, and we can hear each other like this. Saves many phone calls._' And she laughed out loud.

"Phone calls?" Sai asked. "The little machines that ring and connect two people who are far away together?"

"Later," Saichi replied, mentally shaking her head at her younger self's attempt to explain technology. "Better go back to get the brat first. That game took almost two hours, with Touya being hesitant with everything-oh damn." Saichi just realised that she hadn't been to her house yet and she promised the nurse that she'd go there right after being discharged and call her. "Maybe teaching the kid Go will have to wait for tomorrow."

"No Go tonight?" Sai whined, in a pitiful voice.

"Oh that reminds me! I need to get a computer if I don't have one already." Confronted with the millions of things she hadn't done, Saichi sped back to the ramen stall in less than five minutes.

(If she had been in her original body, that distance would've been over in less than a minute. Why, kami-sama, why this weak little girl's body?!)

"Brat, plans have changed," Saichi said, panting once she got back to the stall. Hikaru had finished his ramen and was looking very bored indeed. "Thanks for the meal, oji-san (uncle)." She bade the stall owner farewell as she speed walked back out.

"What's up," Hikaru yawned, very deliberately.

"I have chores to do," Saichi said flatly as they walked toward the train station, quite quickly. "It's quite boring so you might want to go home first."

"What chores?" Hikaru whined. "Didn't you say you'll teach me Go tonight?"

"Plans change," Saichi replied, "I'm glad you're actually interested in Go. But you have homework uncompleted, don't you?"

"Yeaaaaah.. But I don't-"

"No, you'll thank me later when you realise there's a surprise social studies test on Wednesday. And it's on the war."

"There's a surprise test?" Hikaru gaped, astonished. "And what war? Which one?"

"Go home and study!" Saichi repeated crossly.

"Yes mom," Hikaru mocked.

"If you have a string of As, dad will get you a computer by the way."

"What?! Really?!"

"Yeah. Speaking from experience here." Saichi had originally gotten the computer due to an A in only history, and Shindou Masao had deemed it fit enough for a reward. But if Hikaru got As for every subject, Shindou Masao will definitely get a computer for him right? It was good for her younger self to study hard. Maybe he might even be able to enter Kaio instead of Haze!

"Got it," Hikaru nodded determinely, before leaning in. "Remember to tell me more cheats like these in the future. How do you remember them so precisely?"

Saichi tapped her head. "This brain, and your brain actually, can remember and recreate games seen once from scratch. Remembering significant dates- I failed that test and last week's history test and was almost grounded- is chicken feet for this brain!"

"Chicken feet?" Sai asked.

"Chicken feet means easy. It's a modern term."

"Strange," Sai murmured. "Chicken feet."

"Huh." Hikaru said, nonplussed. "Bye. Sai's coming with you by the way. I need to study without distractions."

"Also, if you fail this test," Saichi added, "your playstation games will be confiscated until the next social studies test, which is next month."

"Okay! I get it already!" Hikaru scowled. "It wasn't like I was planning on doing anything but study.."

"Oh really," Saichi raised a brow.

"Whatever. Bye," Hikaru waved to both Sai (which resulted in a very confused elderly lady seated opposite the duo hesitantly waving back) and Saichi before getting up and scrambling out of the train.

Saichi alighted the next stop, and according to the address, it would be this building over here- ah.

It was actually a house with a lawn, just like her old house, but with a few notable differences, as this house was taller than it was wide. There were two bedrooms and a guest room on the second story, and a living room and the kitchen on the first. There was nothing in the living room, not even a chair. It was just a wide empty space. The kitchen had nothing but a fridge, and even that was relatively old and had nothing contained within it. There was a futon in one of the bedrooms, but that was it.

Sai had great enjoyment hearing his voice echo in the open space, but Saichi already felt a headache approaching.

The Welfare Comm left her with this?!

'_I will be busy for the next week, Hikaru. I probably won't be able to drop by till Saturday._'Saichi informed Hikaru via their mental link, inwardly fuming.

'_Why?_'

'_My house is totally empty. They only left me with a futon to sleep with!_'

"Such irresponsible adults," cried Sai. "Are all modern people like that?"

Saichi glanced out the, thankfully, spotless windows. It was almost sunset, but if she was able to head out to the bank to check on her inheritance and buy a few necessities, it would make the rest of the week easier.

Like buy a new bed and have it instantly delivered. Seriously, did the Welfare Comm expect her, a recently awakened coma patient, to sleep on the ground?

Before heading back out, Saichi dialed up Takashino-san and assured (lied to) her that everything was fine.

She also didn't lock the doors because there was nothing to steal anyway.

* * *

"At least tonight I have a bed to sleep on."

It was night, and Saichi praised her own foresight in not locking to doors. She had checked her bank account balance, at least, the trust fund, and found it astonishing. She heard Saichi's parents had been rich but this was way too much. She could eat approximately twenty bowls of ramen a day until she turned twenty with this money!

Of course she wouldn't, though, as furniture took a sizable chunk out of the numbers, and she paid for instant delivery for the bed, which cost a whopping extra 2,700 yen. That was.. Three and a half bowls of miso ramen!

At least the doors weren't locked, so she didn't have to rush back to the house to open the door for the laborers. That meant she could spend more time, roaming the streets with Sai, and having a mental conversation between the two of them, excluding Hikaru.

(Hikaru had lost it after he tried to explain the concept of lifts to Sai. "I don't have time for this!" He roared. "I must get an A and get that computer and save my playstation!")

"Is that a shooting star, Hikaru-san?" Sai asked, while looking up at the sky.

Saichi looked up as well, following that moving white dot with her eyes. '_That is an airplane, Sai, they're like cars of the sky._'

"Cars of the sky..?"

'_You can travel from Japan to anywhere around the world on airplanes. Like to Korea, or China._'

"Humans can fly now! They used to travel by sea, and I never got to visit China or Korea before I died. I heard Korea's Go was particularly strong," Sai gushed, head craned, following the bright spot in the sky until it was hidden behind a cloud.

'_I'll bring you somewhere once I'm older. So stick around. I'll bring you all over the world to play Go._'

Speaking of which, she needed to let Sai play NetGo, and fast. The two weeks she'd been hospitalized had been a total waste of time that she could've used bonding with Sai.

Then, Saichi explained her plan of action to Sai: sign up for the pro exams next week, sign Hikaru up for the insei programme next week as well ("Isn't that a little too fast?" Sai asked, doubtful. Saichi had considered it. "Nah, he has the talent. Maybe if you throw him into the deep end he'll learn how to swim faster." Or drown, but let's not go there.) buy a computer, install an internet connection, create a NetGo account, unleash [_sai_] upon the hapless world of NetGo…

"What's a computer? And internet? And NetGo? Does it have Go?" Sai asked curiously as they browsed through the available computers in an electronics store.

'_A computer is a machine, functioning on electricity, that lets you access the Internet. NetGo is a website, short for Internet Go, which is sort of like a.. Go Salon.. On the internet, which lets you play with many different people all over the world._' Saichi explained.

"It's a box that has many people inside?"

'_No-_' Saichi started, before smiling. She'd had this conversation before, back in her time, her dimension. '_Your other self used to think that a computer was a magic box with many Go opponents inside too._'

"It's not?" Sai stuck his hand through the nearest computer, seemingly feeling around inside. "I don't feel anyone inside."

Saichi laughed, before clapping her hands over her mouth as a sales clerk gave her a disapproving stare. '_Let's just get one and go, I still need to approach the telecomm company to set up my internet connection. And we need a Goban. Which computer do you like, Sai?_'

"This one," Sai pointed at the one which he stuck his hand into.

'_…Okay then._'

By the time Saichi went to the telecomm company, which would install the Internet connection on Tuesday, she felt dead beat. "Sorry Sai," she muttered, "I'll have to find the Goban and play with you Go tomorrow.. I'm really tired." As if to accentuate her point, she yawned widely.

"It is alright, Hikaru-san. I will still be here tomorrow," Sai assured.

Saichi really looked forward to sleeping as she tramped back up the stairs to the bedroom, which was still empty save for the futon in the corner and the really big and tempting bed she bought just now.

Then she saw the bathroom.

There wasn't even toilet paper.


End file.
